With the increasing popularity of sports utility vehicles and other trucks it has become desirable, and in some cases, necessary to have an auxiliary device for helping children, animals, the elderly and frail into or out of the vehicle. It is of course well known to have an auxiliary step such as often used on trains, however, this becomes somewhat problematic in that it must be stored when not in use, thereby reducing the amount of useful space within the vehicle. Numerous attempts have been made to resolve these problems, as well as the singular problem of loading things into and out of a pickup truck, both when the tailgate is up, as well as lowered.
Prior art known to the current inventors includes:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,580,613, granted to Northrop May 25, 1971, discloses a bumper having a trailer hitch mounted step, which can be unlatched and swung to a lower step position further from the truck body.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,758,134, granted to Stewart Sep. 11, 1973, discloses a breakaway step for high clearance vehicles adapted to be mounted to the frame beneath the front door of the cab.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,762,742, granted to Bucklen Oct. 2, 1973, discloses an electronically controlled step for vehicles, which is pivoted outwardly from a position beneath the side frame of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,961,809, granted to Clugston Jun. 8, 1976, discloses a safety step for vehicles and includes a step apparatus that is secured to the exterior of the tail gate and can be swung to form a step when the tail gate is lowered.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,981,515, granted to Roborough Sep. 21, 1976, discloses a step primarily utilized in earth moving equipment, wherein the step is swingable to a protected position to prevent damage.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,110,673, granted to Nagy et al Aug. 29, 1978, discloses a step structure for mobile homes or the like, wherein the step may be stored beneath the vehicle, but when desired is electronically extended outwardly from the side of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,515, granted to Allori Jan. 26, 1982, discloses a step, which is pivotable from a position beneath the vehicle to a position extending outwardly thereof, but requires that the step be vertically moved to accommodate the movement.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,369,984, granted to Hagen Jan. 25, 1983, discloses a extendable platform including a step movable outwardly from the side of a bus.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,524,475, granted to Valentino Jun. 25, 1985, discloses a hospital bed step, which may be clamped to the frame of the bed, is vertically adjustable and can be rotated to a position beneath the bed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,125, granted to Bundy on Apr. 27, 1999, discloses a pivotable truck step that is operated against the locking force of a compression spring.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,738,362, granted to Ludwick on Apr. 14, 1998, discloses a rotating step for a trailer hitch, which must be moved in a vertical direction to rotate it from its stored position beneath the vehicle to its position extending outwardly thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,172, granted to Pascoe et al on Nov. 21, 2000, discloses a modular power step, which rotates a step in a stored position to a deployed position.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,486 B1, granted to Kunz et al on Apr. 10, 2001, discloses a step assembly, which retracts into its own container and contains a concealed lower tread.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,325,397 B1, granted to Pascoe et al on Dec. 4, 2001, discloses an elongated modular running board, which is retractable to a position beneath the vehicle, the running board being supported by three pivot arms and driven by a single motor.
U.S. publication no. US2002/0125677 A1 in the name of Knodle and Bang, discloses a vehicle-mountable step that is mounted to the trailer hitch on the vehicle and is movable to a retracted position beneath the vehicle to an extended position outside the vehicle through the utilization of a single hand requiring no additional clearance.
Japanese patent no. 2-225151 discloses a variable step for a van type vehicle, wherein the actuation or motion of the sliding side door retracts or deploys the step.